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Israel's Liberman: 'No Chance' For Deal With Palestinians

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman rejects demands for settlement-construction freeze and prisoner releases as preconditions for negotiation.
Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor Liberman listens to a translator during a news conference with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado after their meeting in Lisbon January 25, 2011.  REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro  (PORTUGAL - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXX2FL
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“There’s no chance of reaching a diplomatic arrangement with the Palestinians at this time,” said the chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman in an interview with Al-Monitor. The interview with Liberman took place in his Knesset office, the current headquarters of the former foreign minister. (Liberman announced his resignation as foreign minister in December 2012, following the decision to indict him in connection with the affair of ''the ambassador to Belarus.'' The verdict is expected in the coming months and, meanwhile, the portfolio is being held in keeping for him by the prime minister.)

Outside the door, a storm was stirring, one of the many supplied daily by one of the weirdest coalitions we have ever known. It revolved around the chairman of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, who defined the two-state idea as “futile and detached from reality,” and once again exposed the deep ideological divides within the government on this issue.

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